BOSTON (Reuters) - Republican candidate Rick Santorum has won support from American conservatives for his views on social issues but a habit of hyperbole may lead to stumbles in his White House bid.

In Boise, Idaho, on Tuesday, Santorum compared contraception to deodorant and soap when making a point about why he believes birth control should not be covered by health insurers.

"Let's mandate that every insurance policy covers toothpaste. Deodorant. That might be a good idea, right? Have everyone cover deodorant, right? Soap. I mean, where do you stop?"

Santorum also fell back on a well-worn Republican criticism that President Barack Obama and his administration are elitists.

"Don't you see how they see you? How they look down their nose at the average Americans? These elite snobs," said Santorum, who reported 2010 income of almost $1 million, according to financial disclosure forms.

Though he is giving Republican rival Mitt Romney a run for his money in the nomination race, Santorum's language might be an obstacle if he wins his party's nomination to challenge Obama in the November 6 election.

"As a frontrunner you have to watch exactly what you say," said Donna Robinson Devine, professor of government at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. "The attention has moved to Santorum, but to me he seems very whiny. I just can't imagine him as president."

Santorum's most famous equivalence came from 2003.

In an interview, he said that if the Supreme Court protected the right for gays to have consensual sex in their own homes, "then you have the right to bigamy, you have the right to polygamy, you have the right to incest, you have the right to adultery. You have the right to anything."

Comments in that interview that homosexuality was not as bad as bestiality...

You are absolutely correct. Right now Santorum is gaining traction because he comes across as a regular guy. But people don’t yet know him. When they hear he wants govt to define marriage and other such bs, he’s toast.

In a general election Santorum will spend far more time defending his positions on social issues than he will talking about spending, debt, tax reform, regulation, energy and defense...combined.

Since he is running against Obama, he will win. Obama’s social issues are as abysmal as his fiscal issues. He is a complete and utter mess. As far as his comparison of birth control being paid for the insurance company and soap and deoderant, that is true. How much more are the insurance companies going to have to end up paying? Oh and if you don’t think that ALL of our premiums aren’t going to go up for this birth control, then you must not be taking this issue seriously.

10
posted on 02/15/2012 7:07:02 PM PST
by napscoordinator
(A moral principled Christian with character is the frontrunner! Congrats Santorum!)

"As a frontrunner you have to watch exactly what you say," said Donna Robinson Devine, professor of government at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. "The attention has moved to Santorum, but to me he seems very whiny. I just can't imagine him as president."

While I was reading the article, I was wondering what her screen name was on FR, but then I got to your comment at #1 and it was all cleared up.

All Santorum needs to do on the social issues is what McCain was afraid to do. Produce Obama's testimony opposing Illinois' version of the Infant Born Alive Act. That issue was radioactive to McCain's campaign and they avoided it like the plague.

I hope Obama keeps pushing the social issues, and Rick shoves it right back at him.

We're also going to try to replace some of our older servers and failing equipment this year so we're going to add a little extra to our FReepathon goals. John is estimating ten to fifteen thousand to do this and I'd like to get it all in place and working before the election cycle is fully heated up, so we'll try to bring in a little more now if we can and the rest next quarter. Jim Robinson

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16
posted on 02/15/2012 7:18:09 PM PST
by DJ MacWoW
(America! The wolves are here! What will you do?)

"As a frontrunner you have to watch exactly what you say," said Donna Robinson Devine, professor of government at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. "The attention has moved to Santorum, but to me he seems very whiny. I just can't imagine him as president."

Are you, or are you not, 100% in agreement with Donna Robinson Devine, professor of government at Smith College?

Santorum’s point is spot on. Why do we make special circumstances for one product? If the government can mandate that employers provide birth control, then they can mandate anything else as well. Should they mandate that your employer provides you lunch? A car? A house? I don't think this is too difficult to grasp or provocative language at all. But you know the Santorum bashers will run with it.

I am sick and tired of the govt interfering in social issues. IMO it is up to the parents to teach morals.

My main concern is the economy. Prefer a strong fiscal conservative that would never allow a project such as the Keystone pipeline to be slashed; do prefer Newt’s proposal on Soc Sec over Santorum’s and like the idea of the Galveston plan; would like the govt to lift so many barriers environmentally, tax wise, WAGES ( entry level workers such as teenagers, some supplemnting incomes should be allowed to work for less than a govt imposed min wage..I did when I was 16) cut aid to foreign nations and the UN..get out imo; also, I did like what Newt said during his cpac speech on tracking illegals..he compared it to going online and tracking packages via ups or fed ex and millions and millions and millions are tracked every week..so why couldnt we privatize this to a credit card company? heck they would track you down in the Amazon jungle.

Let the parents and families get back to the morals and the govt get the hell out of our personal lives and stop spending our nation into oblivion

28
posted on 02/15/2012 7:31:58 PM PST
by katiedidit1
("This is one race of people for whom psychoanalysis is of no use whatsoever." the Irish)

And Romney has the same problem as Santorum...even worse. He's a Bishop in the Mormon Church and the MSM will make him defend that to the exclusion of darn near everything else except Bain, Swiss Bank Accounts etc.

Yeah. Let’s play it SAFE this time and go with a solid moderate, like a John McCain. Yeah, that’ll do the trick. One moderate vs. one flaming socialist. A real choice for the American people. That’s the ticket. / sarc

32
posted on 02/15/2012 7:34:39 PM PST
by AmericanInTokyo
(Santorum is worth a good second look, my friends. Why is it the media and White House hate him so?)

Exactly. Most people have lost the concept of what insurance is. It is meant to cover infrequent, expensives risks like a house fire or major accident. Therefore a large number of policyholders pay a small premium to share the costs of those few policyholders who have a claim incident.

If I pay a premium to cover a cost I know I am going to have like cleaning my teeth then I am paying somebody a fee to pay those costs for me. That is not insurance.

The problem with mandating routine costs like contraception is that you are forcing policyholders who do not need contraception to subsidize those who do via premiums paid. This is economically immoral. And that ignores that some policyholders may object to contraception for religious reasons.

and that is another thing...this is bipartisan..why should they get big bucks for life even if they only serve one term. Talk about ripping the taxpayers off! it is outrageous that their retirement is so massive ..and I mean all of them

36
posted on 02/15/2012 7:38:17 PM PST
by katiedidit1
("This is one race of people for whom psychoanalysis is of no use whatsoever." the Irish)

And that would be different with another candidate? Where you have been last several election cycles? In 2004 one news organization even peddled forged documents to trash Bush. McCain was trashed. Dole was trashed. Bush I was trashed.

Who, in your judgment, should we nominate that Obama and the media would not attack with "endless, full broadsides"?

"Who, in your judgment, should we nominate that Obama and the media would not attack with "endless, full broadsides"? "

I agree they will go after all of them from whatever angle they believe will do the most damage. They're good at it. Better than our side because they control so many outlets and through the entertainment "industry" have the opportunity to shape the cultural narrative.

Therefore I think Gingrich is the better candidate to run against the left. He has the ability to define what subjects will be discussed.

And when Newt was pouncing on Romney, all the Santorum supporters made sure that came to halt. So were you then helping Romney?

While Santorum is wonderful person and family man, I’m not that interested in his projections of Liberty regardless of his campaign rhetoric. Newt is the visionary, and the one with the capacity to turn this mess around. Rick is too green — maybe in 2020.

We're in agreement that all is conjecture at this point. When it comes to electability, I think the left, especially the far left is going to overplay their hand in their attacks on Santorum. They've cowed and bullied normal, decent Americans into silence, or even embarrasment over their generally traditional views. The deep left has convinced themselves that they are the mainstream, and IMHO, will turn off a lot of people with their inevitable hyperbolic attacks on Santorum.

I guess I don't quite understand why criticism of things like Rick's puritanical views on contraception is considered “an attack from the Left.” However, even if one concedes that somewhat imprecise characterization, shouldn't we examine all our candidates strengths and weaknesses; or, should we just proceed directly to the coronation of our nominee and then let the media and the Dems dissect and eviscerate him?

Somehow I don't quite “get” the latter “ignore the obvious” school of thought.

But that's just, “people like us,” I guess. Logic can be so ...”unpleasant” at times.

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